You have come across so much about people using slimming jabs to get slim, you feel the moment has come to try them out ahead of the holiday period. The problem is cost.
Yet it appears there are other options rather than obtaining a doctor's script and going to the pharmacy. An SMS arrives giving a link to a website with much cheaper drugs – and with no need to navigate proper procedures. And you saw a similar ad on online platforms recently, so you decide to go for it.
The problem is such promotions are highly likely to be fraudulent schemes. In the best-case scenario, you will be sent no product and lose any funds you paid. In the worst, you obtain a fake version, containing unspecified components which may result in serious medical issues.
The popularity of legitimate weight loss medications has led to a rise in counterfeit products entering circulation and scams set up to simply take people’s money.
Health authorities have advised avoiding buying such unlawful weight loss medicines absent a doctor's order from beauty salons, bogus online chemists or via social media, saying they might include “toxins and other ingredients which may provoke real harm”.
New figures from a major retail bank reveal a sharp rise in the quantity of clients who have been impacted by the fraud. The bank says, the amount of money lost to fraudulent activities involving weight loss injections, pens, tablets and fat-dissolving products between July and September this year, was more than double the overall amount lost in the previous three months. The average scam costs victims £120, it says.
“Fraudsters are deliberately targeting people’s insecurities and medical worries, with such frauds soaring in the past few months,” says a financial institution's fraud prevention lead.
How It Appears
The majority occur on messaging apps and social media. On socials, an account may imitate the company that you are looking for, but there will typically be slight variations in text or logos.
These communications or updates will frequently use urgency-laden phrases such as “time-sensitive deal”, “exclusive deal” or “complimentary gift”.
With the cost of certain authentic weight loss jabs, has increased of late, the fraudsters will price their “product” lower.
“Purchasing from unapproved vendors online can entail a significant monetary, health-related and psychological toll,” says the fraud expert.
Recommended Actions
Like any deceptive scheme, the wise saying applies: if it appears too good to be true, then it probably is.
Health regulators have cautioned people to be highly vigilant when purchasing medications via the web. These products must solely be acquired from a licensed chemist with a valid script issued by a healthcare professional, it says. If sourced elsewhere, they can present significant dangers to health.
Criminals can expend considerable effort to design their webpage or social media page look as authentic as possible. Should they state to be an online pharmacy located within the UK, it's possible to verify the online portal of the pharmaceutical regulatory body to ensure this is correctly licensed.
